Thursday, March 27, 2014

Parshas Tazria discusses the concept of
tzaraas, poorly translated in English as leprosy. Tzaraas was the miracle
disease that only appeared when a person spoke lashon hara. Tzaraas could
appear on buildings, clothing, or a person’s skin. When someone thought they
had tzaraas, they would go to the Kohen who would then determine if this spot
was actually tzaraas or not. The fact that these lesions appeared on inanimate
objects as well as people, and the fact that they appeared instantaneously was
proof to the fact that they were not a common disease, but rather a direct sign
from Hashem for this person to correct their speech habits.

There is a famous Gemarah (Nedarim 64b)
that says there are four living people who are comparable to dead people. One
of those four is a metzorah, a person who has tzaraas. The Sichos Mussar
explains that you might think the reason a metzorah is compared to a dead
person is that because of all the pain and suffering he goes through, he would
rather be dead. However, he proves that this is simply not true. The first
proof is from the pasuk in Tehillim, “יסר יסרני יה ולמות לא נתנני” “God has
chastised me exceedingly, but He has not given me over for death” (Tehillim
118:18). We see clearly that with all the pain that Dovid HaMelech was put
through, it was worth it for him as long as he remained alive.

Another proof to this is the famous Gemarah
(Sotah 11a) that says when Paroh asked his advisors if he should enslave the
Jews, one of his advisors, Iyov (Job), did not say anything and was punished
with all sorts of troubles, which are well documented in Sefer Iyov. Another of
his advisors, Bilaam, told Paroh to enslave the Jews and was punished by Hashem
by being killed later on. Obviously, Bilaam’s punishment had to be worse than
Iyov’s, so we see clearly that death is a worse punishment than suffering.

Therefore, says the Sichos Mussar, the reason
why a metzorah is comparable to a dead person must be because of another law
concerning people with tzaraas. When a person was confirmed to have tzaraas, he
was forced to leave the camp (or city after Bnei Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael)
and live by himself for a week. The fact that this person was alone, kept away
from people, is how he is most comparable to a dead person. This punishment
comes מידה כנגד מידה, measure for measure of his crime.
Tzaraas is the punishment for speaking lashon hara, which causes rifts between
people. So too this person also develops a rift, and is kept away from the
nation until he can do teshuvah.

From the greatness of this punishment,
we can see the greatness of the sin. The first person recorded in the Torah to
have tzaraas was Miriam, as a result of her saying lashon hara about her
brother, Moshe (See Bamidbar 12). The Rambam analyzes this story. Miriam spoke
about her brother, whom she was greater than, whom she raised, whom she placed herself
into danger in order to save, did not even say anything disparaging
about him but rather equated him with all the other prophets who were around at
the time, what she said it didn’t even bother Moshe, and still she got
tzaraas! It is clear that lashon hara is a very serious sin that we must be
careful to avoid.

However, from the punishment, we also
see how much Hashem loves us. The reason Hashem punishes measure for measure of
the sin is in order for us to be able to make the connection between the sin
and the punsihement easier and figure out what we did wrong. By tzaraas, first it
appears on the person’s house, then on their clothing, and only then, if they
still haven’t repented, does it appear on their skin. While tzaraas on the skin
can be any number of medical conditions, tzaraas appearing on a house or a
piece of clothing is obviously unnatural. Usually, Hashem does not like to take
the world out of its normal order, He prefers to allow nature to operate by its’
own laws (under His supervision of course). The fact that He is willing to
break the rules of nature in order to warn a person about their lashon hara,
something that He does not do by every sin, is a sure sign of his desire for us,
His children, to speak only good about each other. With such a show of
affection, how can we refuse?

Thursday, March 20, 2014

During the first week the Mishkan was in
use, Moshe performed all the work that was done. At the end of that week, Aharon
and his sons, as the Kohanim, took over those duties for the rest of time. It was
a time of tremendous celebration for the entire nation as everyone was excited
about the Mishkan’s consecration. But amid all this, tragedy struck as Nadav
and Avihu, the two eldest sons of Aharon and two of the greatest people alive
in that generation, died while bringing an unauthorized korban. This was an enormous
blow not just to Aharon and his family, but to the entire nation as well.

Understandably, Aharon was very upset at
the death of his sons. The pesukim tell us how Moshe consoled him. “ויאמר משה אל אהרן הוא
אשר דבר יהוה לאמר בקרבי אקדש ועל פני כל העם אכבד וידם אהרן”“And Moshe said
to Aharon, ‘This is what Hashem spoke, (when He said), ‘I will be sanctified
through those near to me, and before all the people I will be glorified’. And Aharon
was silent.” (Vayikra
10:3). Rashi explains that in Sefer Shemos (29:43), Hashem told Moshe that the
sanctity of the Mishkan would shown to Bnei Yisrael through the death of a holy
person. The idea was that the nation should realize that not everyone was on
such a great level that they were worthy of entering and serving in the Mishkan.
Through the death of a holy person in the Mishkan, the nation could infer that
if such a holy person did not deserve to enter the Mishkan, then neither did
they. Now that this event had occurred, it was a clear proof that Aharon’s sons
were tzaddikim. With this idea, Aharon was consoled.

This idea of tzaddikim needing to die to
prove this point is discussed in the various commentaries. The question arises,
if Nadav and Avihu were the ones selected to prove this point, does that mean
they were even greater than Moshe and Aharon? How come Moshe and Aharon were
not chosen to establish this idea?

The Ohr HaChaim explains that really
Moshe and Aharon were on a much higher level than everyone, including
Nadav and Avihu. However, the point Hashem was trying to make was to the nation
as a whole, that they should realize there were certain boundaries set
up between them and the holiness of the Mishkan. If Moshe or Aharon had been
the “sacrifice”, Bnei Yisrael would not have connected this idea to themselves,
instead they would have assumed that this had no connection to the Mishkan, but
rather, on their otherworldly plane beyond our comprehension, Moshe and Aharon
had messed up. However, on the level that the nation stood, they had nothing to
fear. So Hashem chose Nadav and Avihu, two great people who were nonetheless closer
to the level of the nation, to make his point.

Rashi explains exactly the opposite. By
choosing Nadav and Avihu, Hashem was showing that they were even greater
than Moshe and Aharon! The Kli Yakar explains; in order to really impress upon
Bnei Yisrael the severity of overstepping the bounds of His holiness, Hashem
had to show how even the greatest people would be held accountable for
this. Using an average or even an above-average person would not have had the
same affect.

Either way you slice it, the deaths of
Nadav and Avihu were a tremendous Kiddush Hashem. Through their deaths, Bnei
Yisrael were taught to treat holy places with reverence, thereby saving them
from their own potential deaths as well as preventing many occurrences of tremendous
desecrations of Hashem’s name. Chazal teach us how only the greatest people
have the chance to give up their lives to make a Kiddush Hashem. The fact that Aharon’s
sons were given this opportunity speaks to their greatness, regardless of what
level they may have been on.

Shabbat Shalom!

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Sunday, March 16, 2014

AIMeM would like to thank Shmuel Birnbaum for submitting this Dvar
Torah.

With all the traditions that we have on
Purim, the one that is most discussed nowadays is the halacha of, “חייב אינש לבסומי בפוריא עד
דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי”“A person
is obligated to become intoxicated on Purim until he does not know the
difference between ‘Blessed is Mordechai’ and “Cursed is Haman”. (Shulchan
Aruch OC 695:2) This obligation seems very out of character for our upright,
respectable Jewish religion. We are Jews, representatives of Hashem on this
Earth, what explanation is there for requiring us to get drunk on Purim?
Secondly, what is it about Purim that we are required to get drunk when no
other holiday has this same obligation? Regardless of what your feelings may be
about getting drunk, this obligation requires good discussion as it is the
halacha.

Reb Yisrael Salanter explains that the
miracle of Purim is different than the miracles of other holidays. Take
Chanukah as an example, the decree on Chanukah was that Jews were not allowed
to learn Torah and do mitzvos, but there was no decree to actually kill
the Jews. So we see the decree was specifically against the spiritual
side of the Jewish People. Therefore, on Chanukah, we celebrate the spiritual
aspect of the Jewish People. On Purim, however, Haman did not care about the
Jews learning Torah, he simply wanted to eradicate the Jewish Nation from the
face of the Earth. So on Purim, the miracle was that the physical side
of the Jewish People was saved. Therefore, we have a specific mitzvah to
celebrate the physical aspects of our lives that we do not have on any other
holiday.

As Jews, what is our purpose in this
world? A simple answer to a very deep and complicated question is to increase
spirituality in this world. We do this using both the physical and spiritual
aspects of our existence. In the Purim story, the danger was only coming
against the physical aspect of our existence, yet, Hashem saved us. We see from
here that the physical body of a Jew by itself is enough to
warrant salvation, even without any spiritual threat. When we say the physical
aspect of our existence was in danger, we are separating our mental
capacities from our physical bodies. Our mental capacities are what allow our
spiritual side to take flight, so we cannot put them together with our physical
capabilities. When we say the “physical aspect” of our existence, we mean the
body by itself with nothing else, not even higher brain functions. Therefore,
explains Reb Yisrael Salanter, we are obligated to get drunk on Purim and throw
away our mental control of ourselves, to show how even just that side of us by
itself is holy. We want to show Hashem how we recognize that all aspects of our
existence are holy, even just this physical shell.

This license to drink does not allow us
to act crazily and go completely out of control. On the contrary, those of us
who have seen tzaddikim get drunk on Purim would even call it a privilege
to have seen how they act while drunk! When a person drinks the right way, they
do not become a mindless shell, but rather they are stripped down to their core
which is them putting complete trusting Hashem and realizing how everything is
in Hashem’s hands. Drinking takes away their normal human feelings of
self-control and makes them wake up to this reality. Without this accomplishment,
the purpose in being drunk is extremely weak.

There are many stories told how (for
whatever reason,) the graves of great rabbis were opened many years after their
deaths and their bodies were found to still be in good condition, not
decomposed even after years in the grave. Based on what we have said, we can
understand how this unnatural event can occur. Our spiritual self, our neshama,
never decomposes. A spiritual “being” is everlasting. These great people worked
on themselves until their physical bodies were spiritual as well,
therefore, they did not decompose after many years. Spirituality does not rot! Even
if we may not reach the level of these great people, it does give us the responsibility
to realize that all parts of ourselves are holy and must be treated as such.

Let us take this lesson for Purim,
understand that both our physical and spiritual sides need to be cultivated.
While we might think that it is only our spiritual side that can benefit from
recognizing Hashem, what happens when a holiday like Purim comes and Hashem
cannot be recognized? His role in the Purim miracle is hidden and cannot be
seen at all! So today and tomorrow (for those in Yerushalayim, Shushan, and
Teveria), let us focus on using our physical side to recognize Hashem. Since both
sides of us come from Him, there is no reason why they cannot both be used to
get close to Him.

A Freilechen Purim!

Shmuel Birnbaum
lived in Chicago, Il. till making Aliyah with his family over fifteen years
ago. He currently studies in Mirrer Yeshiva in Yerushalayim where he lives with
his family. He is a first-time contributor to AIMeM.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

In preparation for Purim, this Shabbos
we read Parshas Zachor, which commands us to remember the story of how Amalek
came to battle with Bnei Yisrael in the desert and how we must wipe out the
nation of Amalek from the face of the Earth. The Haftorah also talks about a
battle with Amalek, a story from Sefer Shmuel when Shaul nearly wiped out the
entire nation of Amalek. Haman was a descendant of Amalek so before Purim we
read passages that deal with the defeat of his people. However, there is
another lesson that we learn from both these stories in how to deal with evil.

The story in Sefer Shmuel when Shaul
destroys Amalek does not have a happy ending. Shmuel told Shaul that Hashem had
commanded him to completely wipe out the nation of Amalek. He also told him that
Shaul should wait for him to come back after the war was concluded and that
they would bring korbanos in thanks to Hashem together. Shaul, for reasons we
will discuss, did not kill Agag, the king of Amalek, immediately. He instead
waited to kill him later on. He also began bringing korbanos before Shmuel
arrived. Because Shaul did not listen to what Shmuel told him, Hashem decided
that Shaul could no longer be king, and Shmuel informs Shaul that his dynasty
will end with him, his son will not be king. The Gemarah in Yoma (22b) asks,
why was Shaul was punished for his sin while we see other figures, such as Dovid
Hamelech--who ended up taking over for Shaul, also sin and not be punished in
the same damaging way?

“ויאמר שמואל הלוא אם קטן אתה בעיניך ראש שבטי ישראל אתה
וימשחך יהוהלמלך על ישראל…ולמה לא שמעת
בקול יהוה” “Shmuel said, ‘Is
this not so?—Though you may be small in your own eyes, you are the head of the
tribes of Yisrael; and Hashem has anointed you to be king over Yisrael…Why did
you not obey the voice of Hashem?” (Shmuel
I 15: 17, 19) Shmuel’s main complaint against Shaul was that he made himself “small”,
meaning, unimportant. An earlier pasuk explains that Shaul allowed the nation
to convince him to take pity on Agag and let him live for the time being. Even
though humility is an extremely admirable trait (Moshe Rabbeinu was praised as
being the most humble man to ever live), even a good trait in its wrong place
can be a bad one.

No trait is said to be either a bad or a good one in Judaism. For example,
jealousy is mentioned in Pirkei Avos (4:21) as being one of three things that
remove a person from this world. On the other hand, the Gemarah in Baba Basra
(21a) says that jealousy among scholars will result in advances in knowledge. So
it does not matter what the trait is, in Judaism we believe it is all about how
the person uses that trait. If used properly, any trait can be a good
one.

For
a king, humility is a terrible trait. A king needs to be able to make decisions
without worrying about what people will say. He cannot focus on trying to
protect everyone’s feelings and not make a big deal out of himself, he’s the
King! He’s the one responsible! Because of his misplaced humility, Shaul could
not continue as king. This is different from someone like Dovid, that even
though he sinned, they did not come as a result of his being a poor leader.

The Sichos Mussar suggests that Shaul panicked
which led him to using his trait of humility poorly and to his sinning. In both
mistakes that he made, with Agag and the korbanos, Shaul did not think everything
through, instead he reacted to what the crowd was telling him, and ended up
going against the word of Hashem. In the
times of the Megillah, however, we see that Mordechai did not even tremble when
Haman walked by at a time when everyone feared Haman. Apparently, all instances
of Amalek can have that affect.

Now to Parshas Zachor. Reb Levi Yitzchak
Mi’Berditchev in his sefer, Kedushas Levi, explains that our obligation to
destroy Amalek does not end with their physical destruction. Amalek is not only
a people, but ‘Amalek’ is an idea. Each of us has a little bit of this ‘Amalek’
inside of us that influences us towards evil. Our job is to eradicate this
piece from within us. The medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 65:20) explains that the strength
of Am Yisrael is through our mouths, through learning Torah and davening to
Hashem. As long as we hold onto this power, we can hope to destroy Amalek. If
we were to let go of it though, there is no way to defeat this instinct.

Even though physically Amalek is no
longer around, conceptually, it still remains. Through this extended Purim weekend
(Thursday through Monday), let us focus on eradicating Amalek from within us.
All the mitzvos we perform, all the davening we do, it should all be with the
focus of removing that piece of Amalek contained within us. Accomplishing this is
the true purpose of Purim.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Sefer Vayikra deals with the laws of
korbanos and those who are obligated to bring them. As we don’t have the
Mishkan or the Beis Hamikdash today, these halachos seem irrelevant and
unnecessary for us to study. Why then do we continue to read these parshiyos
and why do so many people spend so much time studying and reviewing these
halachos? Perhaps if we understood better the reason for korbanos we could
understand why these laws are still studied.

The obvious question about korbanos is how
does slaughtering an animal and burning it on the mizbe’ach help us? It’s not
as if Hashem eats it, He doesn’t need food to “survive”. So why do we bring
them? The Rosh explains that this is another example of how Hashem brings the
cure before the disease hits. As it says in Koheles, “אין צדיק בארץ אשר
יעשה טוב ולא יחטא” “There is
no righteous person in the land who does only good and does not sin” (Koheles
7:20). At some point or other in their life, a person will sin. And regardless
of that person’s spiritual standing and the size of the sin they commit, their
soul will be “damaged” in some way. If there were no way of repenting and
erasing the record of that sin, a person would have no reason not to continue
sinning since there would be no way to get back to a higher state.

Hashem gave us this
incredible gift of Teshuvah that allows us to cast off our sins and start again
as if nothing happened. A parable is given that it’s like when a person gets a
stain on their clothing. If there were no way of getting the stain out, the
person would either throw out the garment or continue to get it dirty since it
wouldn’t matter anyway to keep it clean. However, when a person has the ability
to clean the garment, they will continue to watch over it so it does not get
any harder to clean.

This is the purpose of
korbanos. Korbanos are the tool we use to personify our repentance; in place of
sacrificing ourselves for our sins, we use animals instead. The exact reasons
for and the background behind our method of korbanos and why this exact way is
the way we do it is something we will discuss at a different time. (Perhaps onour Nation’s Wisdom blog.) The important thing to know is that we don’t bring
korbanos for Hashem at all! They are for us, acting as our “cure” before the
disease of sin.

Perhaps now we can offer an answer for our
original question, why do we spend so much time studying korbanos, a subject that
is not even applicable today? First off all, it is important to note that any
subject of Torah is important and warrants study in of itself simply because it
comes from Hashem. A thorough study shows how even seemingly the most inapplicable
topics contain knowledge that is important to know and help shape halacha even
in modern times.

The second answer is
that we hope and pray that soon these halachos will be applicable once again.
When Mashiach comes and the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt, we will start bringing
korbanos immediately, and what will we do if no one knows what to do!
Therefore, we study these laws in anticipation of this day when the amazing
opportunities of korbanos are again pertinent.